text:
Ohio should maximize federal...
Consumer Protection + Asset BuildingBasic Needs + Unemployment Insurance
Ohio should maximize federal food aid
State fails to expand federal aid to thousands of Ohioans who are eligible.
Contact: Wendy Patton, 614.221.4505
In 2016, Ohio plans to waive time limits on federal food aid in 18 mostly rural counties where the economy lags and jobs are scarce.[1] This is a good and compassionate policy choice.
But thousands of other working poor Ohioans are eligible to receive more federal food aid, and the state has failed to extend the waiver to them. The state excluded three counties and 12 cities that qualify for the same waiver.[2] Further, if the state used a slightly different approach, 34 out of Ohio's 88 counties and the same 12 cities would qualify. Finally, Ohio does not use its backlog of individual exemptions, which could extend aid for job seekers who lose benefits before they find enough work hours.
In a state with hunger levels higher than the national average,[3] state government needs to maximize access to federal food aid to help hungry Ohioans and stimulate lagging local economies.
Time limits for SNAP aid
When the economy is strong, the federal Department of Agriculture's "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program" (SNAP) puts time limits on food aid for adults who are not disabled, elderly or parents with custody of minor children. These limits restrict help to just three out of 36 months unless recipients work about 20 hours a week. When the economy is weak and many cannot find this many hours, federal rules allow states to waive the time limits.
Ohio qualified for a state-wide waiver of SNAP time limits since the recession, but the Kasich administration rejected that waiver for most of Ohio's counties for the past two years, accepting it in 2014 for just 16 rural counties and for 17 in 2015. In 2016, Ohio will no longer be eligible for a statewide waiver, but many counties and cities will remain eligible. Ohio has applied for the waiver for Adams, Ashtabula, Brown, Clinton, Coshocton, Gallia, Highland, Huron, Jackson, Jefferson, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Noble, Ottawa, Perry, Pike and Scioto Counties.[4] However, many more counties and cities could also be waived – especially urban counties, where the great majority of SNAP participants live.
The state needs to broaden its request to encompass all places and regions where jobs are in short supply and people may not know where their next meal will come from.
The role of SNAP in the low-wage economy
SNAP targets the most vulnerable Americans to help struggling people and households get enough to eat each day. In a typical month in 2014, SNAP helped an average of 46 million Americans, including 1.7 million in Ohio.[5] The majority of SNAP participants are children, seniors, or people with disabilities.[6] But SNAP also serves many households with a wage earner whose job does not lift a family out of poverty. Many jobs don't pay enough and/or don't offer enough hours of work per week to cover the cost of living. Food aid fills in the cracks for low-wage workers, making sure they aren't forced to choose between feeding their families and paying the rent. The benefits are very modest — averaging about $1.40 per person per meal — but SNAP lifted more than 10 million Americans out of poverty in 2012, including five million children.[7]
An estimated one million Americans are at risk of losing their SNAP benefits in 2016 because of time limits on food assistance.[8] Last year, 31 states accepted a statewide waiver of time limits from the federal government.[9] However, most states will not be eligible on a statewide basis in 2016. Many poor people will be at risk — including young people just entering the job market (who face higher unemployment rates than the population at large),[10] parents whose children have grown, many veterans and jobseekers or those who cannot get enough hours to qualify for the aid. The population is diverse. About 40 percent are women. Close to a third are over 40 years old. Among those who report their race, about half are white. Half have only a high school diploma or GED. They live in all areas, and among those for whom data on metropolitan status are available, about 80 percent live in urban and suburban areas.[11]
In Ohio, the state has requested a waiver of time limits in 18 counties, but up to 34 counties and 10 cities are eligible. Why is the state not maximizing federal resources for Ohioans? Maybe it is because the legislative provisions creating these work-related time limits were co-sponsored in 1996 by then-Congressman John Kasich, who emphasized that states would offer "workfare" programs to jobseekers who could not find enough hours of work. The legislation also provided for a waiver of time limits in places of high unemployment.[12]
Workfare has not worked out very well in many states because federal rules neither required nor funded workfare programs.[13] The Ohio budget bill for FY 2016-17 emphasizes the importance of providing employment training or work slots in special programs. However, these mandates are new. Implementation and outcomes are unproven. Federal waivers of time limits are needed as new programs are implemented.
Excluded cities
Twelve cities are eligible for the waiver under the same calculation methodology used by the state in identifying counties for the 2016 waiver request: Cleveland, Dayton, Lima, Lorain, Mansfield, Maple Heights, Middletown (the part in Butler County), Toledo, Trotwood, Zanesville, Youngstown and Warren.[14] These cities had unemployment rates at or above 120 percent of the national unemployment rate between January 2013 and December 2014, the threshold for the waiver and the months used by the state to calculate waiver eligibility (A link to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidance is on the web page of this report).
Cities have been excluded for the past two years since Ohio rejected the statewide waiver. In 2014 and 2015, Ohio accepted the waiver for rural counties, and is requesting it again in the same rural areas, although more than 70 percent of those who lost their food aid because of this lived in urban counties.[15] The exclusion of cities meant many African-American, Asian and Hispanic Ohioans, who live mostly in cities, were subject to time limits on food aid. In the summer of 2014, Columbus Legal Aid filed a civil complaint against Ohio based on the state's rejection of the waiver in cities, which disproportionately harmed minority populations.
Headed into 2016, the state could have redressed this inequity. The Kasich administration chose not to. We asked the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services why these places were not included in the waiver request. The response: "As with nearly all ODJFS programs, we manage SNAP by county, not by city or region."
This answer implies that Ohio failed to request the waiver for cities because of administrative barriers. Federal rules do not prohibit the waiver in regions smaller than the administrative boundary. A state may request a waiver for counties, sub-county areas (cities, towns or even zip codes) or multiple-county regions. Some states don't because of worries about increased errors, inadequate computer systems or confusion about the jurisdiction of every address. But many states do waive eligible cities, and some New England states have even waived very small towns. In 2007, a typical pre-recession year, at least 11 states waived cities and towns, including cities such as Rochester, NY; Knoxville, TN; St. Louis, MO; South Bend, IN; Green Bay, WI and Providence, RI.[16]
Administrative barriers are manageable in Ohio. Concern about properly identifying whether a SNAP participant lives in a waived area can be addressed. Residence is listed by zip code in the state's eligibility information technology, allowing a city-level designation.[17] It might take some reprogramming of the information technology system or caseworkers might have to sometimes override the system manually.[18] This might take some resources, but the state has resources. The recently approved state budget gave away more than $2 billion dollars in tax cuts and locked up a half billion dollars in savings. There are funds, should the legislators choose, to ensure hungry Ohioans – and the families they invariably live with – receive food aid. And of course, the resources to pay for the aid itself come entirely from the federal government.
As described above, language in the new budget bill requires counties to offer work replacement opportunities or employment training to men and women in non-waived counties who can't find enough work to qualify for ongoing food aid. While services are being ramped up in 2016, the state should also seek waivers for qualifying cities.
Most counties in Ohio simply do not qualify for waivers so the time limit must go into effect in 2016. However, the state left three counties that do qualify for the waiver out of the request: Trumbull, Muskingum and Vinton Counties. (Muskingum was part of the included group in 2015).
The threshold for eligibility is 120 percent of the national unemployment rate over the 24-month period of January 2013 to December 2014, calculated to the tenth of a percent or one decimal point. This means places with rates of 8.1 percent would qualify. Trumbull and Muskingum each had rates that round to 8.1 percent – Muskingum's was 8.12 percent and Trumbull's was 8.09 percent. So, under federal rules, Trumbull and Muskingum are both eligible using the state's calculations (Link to the spreadsheet of ODJFS calculations). Vinton County had a 24-month unemployment average of 9.3 percent, clearly higher than 120 percent of the national average. Asked why Vinton County was not included, the response from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Office of Communications was: "Vinton, Ross and Hocking counties merged their departments of job and family services into one administrative entity serving residents of all three counties." [19] This is an administrative barrier not linked to federal prohibitions. Indeed, if the state took a more regional approach (as allowed by federal rules), not only Vinton County but also Hocking and Ross would be eligible for the waiver.
Regional approach
By grouping counties and using a regional tally of unemployment, federal food aid could be further maximized. This is allowed under federal rules. Table 1 shows that up to 34 counties and 10 cities would be eligible if grouped as allowed under federal rules. This includes almost all Appalachian counties and many cities.
Ohio could also use our large backlog of time-limit "exemptions" built up over the years. Ohio will have as many as 484,627 such exemptions available by the end of the current fiscal year. Each exemption serves as one additional month of food aid for someone affected by time limits. Use of these exemptions is another way to maximize federal aid to relieve hunger in Ohio.[20]
Summary and conclusion
The Kasich administration made a good and compassionate policy choice by expanding Medicaid, bringing billions of federal dollars into the state and helping the "people in the shadows," as the governor says. The same logic could be applied to federal food aid. Foregoing the waiver for eligible counties and cities leaves people and households exposed to hunger. The policy also means that millions of federal dollars are not being spent in Ohio supermarkets, farmer's markets and corner stores, dollars that could boost local economies.
Too many Ohioans experience hunger. Ohio has one of the highest rates of severe food insecurity in the nation, and it has increased in the past decade. The compassionate response to meeting basic needs of all Ohioans – particularly the most vulnerable – is to maximize federal dollars to help people and boost the Ohio economy.
[1] The waiver is for the federal fiscal year, which runs from October 1 to September 30.
[2] Earlier versions of this brief omitted Youngstown and Warren from the list of cities that qualify for the waiver. This is because they are located in counties that also could be found qualified, depending on approach. This version of the document includes them fully in the list of cities eligible for waiver.
[3] The United States Department of Agriculture found that Ohio's average share of households facing food insecurity (16 percent) was 10 percent higher than the national average. We ranked 12th among the states in food insecurity and tied with Mississippi for a ranking of third in terms of households with very low food security, with a share 35 percent higher than in the nation as a whole. Alisha Coleman-Jensen, Christian Gregory, Anita Singh, "Household Food Security in the United States in 2013," Table 5, United States Department of Agriculture, September 2014
[4] E-mail from the ODJFS Office of Communications, August 17, 2015.
[5] United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service website - SNAP program data at http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap (accessed 8/20/2015).
[6] In Ohio, 83 percent of SNAP recipients fit into those categories. E-mailed communication from the ODJFS Office of Communications, December 29, 2014.
[7] Ed Bolen, Approximately 1 Million Unemployed Childless Adults Will Lose SNAP Benefits in 2016 as State Waivers Expire, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, January 5, 2015 at http://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/approximately-1-million-unemployed-childless-adults-will-lose-snap-benefits
[9] Wendy Patton, "Stop the Hunger Games," Policy Matters Ohio, July 2015 at http://www.policymattersohio.org/foodaid-july2015
[10] Amy Hanauer, "State of Working Ohio," Policy Matters Ohio
[11] Bolen, Op.Cit.
[14] Youngstown and Warren were mistakenly omitted from an earlier version of this brief because they are located in counties that could also be eligible. That omission is corrected here.
[15] Center for Community Solutions, "Common Ground," Volume 1, #2, January 2014 at http://www.communitysolutions.com/assets/docs/Common_Ground/cg_january2014_011514.pdf
[16] Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, e-mailed communication, August 20, 2015.
[17] Telephone conversation, Joel Potts, Executive Director of the County Directors of Job and Family Services of Ohio, August 19, 2015.
[18] Telephone conversation with Joseph Gauntner, Case Western Reserve University, August 19, 2015.
[19] E-mailed communication from the ODJFS Office of Communications, August 20, 2015.
[20] Patton, Op.Cit.
2015Basic NeedsWendy Patton
By Wendy Patton


text:
describe :string_each_codepoint_without_block, shared: true do
  describe "when no block is given" do
    it "returns an Enumerator" do
      "".send(@method).should be_an_instance_of(Enumerator)
    end

    it "returns an Enumerator even when self has an invalid encoding" do
      s = "\xDF".force_encoding(Encoding::UTF_8)
      s.valid_encoding?.should be_false
      s.send(@method).should be_an_instance_of(Enumerator)
    end

    describe "returned Enumerator" do
      describe "size" do
        it "should return the size of the string" do
          str = "hello"
          str.send(@method).size.should == str.size
          str = "ola"
          str.send(@method).size.should == str.size
          str = "\303\207\342\210\202\303\251\306\222g"
          str.send(@method).size.should == str.size
        end

        it "should return the size of the string even when the string has an invalid encoding" do
          s = "\xDF".force_encoding(Encoding::UTF_8)
          s.valid_encoding?.should be_false
          s.send(@method).size.should == 1
        end
      end
    end
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


1.Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
2. Grease the baking pan with butter or oil or use a non-stick cooking spray. I used a 8″ square pan.
3. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and sugar into a large mixing bowl &Mix well.
4. In another bowl beat butter then add Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture while beating well in one direction. Keep beating until the entire dry mixture is fully incorporated.
5. Now add the milk slowly and beat for a minute.
6. Pour the mixture into the greased pan. You do not have to spread the mixture using a spoon, if the mixture is of the right consistency. Tap the cake tin to release any trapped air bubbles.
7.Place in the centre of the pre-heated oven and bake for 30 minutes. The temperature and baking time can vary from oven to oven. Hence, test the cake at around 25 minutes to see if it is done. . Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a wooden tooth pick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
8.Remove the pan and let the cake cool for 10 minutes. Invert it.
9. A rich moist yummy egg less chocolate cake is ready! Serve it with icecream! Yummmmmy!
wow... looks really delicious Cake .. Templates looks good dear..
That looks perfect and delicious.. Nice n easy cake... your burfi also looks tempting!
Enjoy the festivities by participating in Christmas Feast Event.
lovely cake! looks so simple and elegant. New look of your blog looks nice. Snow effect is beautiful.
Choclate cake looks fantablous. Burfi also looks delicious.
Delicious cake Jaishree and minus the eggs gr8. Have just announced a new event on my blog "Baking For Beginners". Do check it out.
Wow the cake is just perfect. even luvd your burfi.
I ve seen ur previous post. U didn't have any anti-virus installed?
Hope u ve recovered everything!
looks really moist and delicious Jaishree. I remember while on chat the other day, you told me that you are gonna try this cake.
I gonna try this. Thank you, dear.
Good one Jaishree. I have not tried this recipe for an eggless cake. Regarding frosting, you have to wait until the cake cools completely. You can even keep the cake in the fridge to cool it. After taking the cake out of the oven, let the cake cool for an hour or so at room temperature. Then do a very thin coating with the frosting and keep it in the fridge. Then the next day or after a couple of hours do the full frosting.


I have a question about adventures, and the tresures or sciences they get.
I read somewhere that if there is an army with high exp, no other army will get anything? Is that true?
My army is bigger, twice bigger, but exp is lower.
The more people adventuring the less chances you get to find things.


text:
Bechtel Reaches Key Milestones on Dulles Metrorail Project
21 May 2012 SAN FRANCISCO
Aerial Guideway and Station Construction Advance
The Bechtel-led team building Phase 1 of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project has installed the final segment of the elevated Tysons East Guideway, a key milestone signaling the close out of the heavy civil work needed on the project.
The Tysons East Guideway is the longest of three aerial sections, which combined make up more than three miles (4.82 kilometers) of the project. It is comprised of 1,479 concrete segments, each uniquely engineered for its place on the alignment, and weighing 25 to 40 tons apiece. The remaining aerial work will be completed by the end of the summer.
"This milestone means that we now have the green light to finish laying the rail through this portion of the guideway, and begin connecting and testing the rail systems along the alignment," said Larry Melton, Bechtel project executive director.
In addition to the progress on the aerial guideways, construction of the stations is advancing. The Wiehle Avenue and Tysons East station structures are now finished and work on Phase 1 is nearly 80% complete.
"We'll become a little less visible to the public as we move into the intricate work of connecting the Dulles extension to the existing rail line and start to power up," said Melton. "We are bringing on approximately 300 electricians from around the region to help us with this next stage of construction."
The Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project is an extension of the Washington, D.C., region's existing Metrorail system and is being managed by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
A global leader in the rail industry, Bechtel has successfully completed some of the largest and most complex rail projects in the world, including the San Francisco BART system; Athens Metro; Jubilee Line Extension on the London Underground; West Coast Main Line Route Modernization; and High Speed 1. In addition to the Dulles rail project, the company is also working on Crossrail, a new rail route through the heart of central London.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Group mysql query by months or weeks with proper start/endings I have searched and viewed a lot of answers on SO but even trying to apply all I found I get incorrect results.
I am trying to group my mysql results by week mon-sun, and by month from day 1 to last day of month
I have tried different types of grouping like:
GROUP BY YEARWEEK(data)
GROUP BY WEEK(data)

for weeks and
GROUP BY MONTH(data)

for months
all these grouping methods return uncorrect groupings. some results start in random days of the month or the week.
this is example query which get results from last month entries divided by week although the week grouping is not resulting in weeks from mon-sun.
SELECT *, count(id) AS count FROM leadz WHERE YEAR(data) = YEAR(CURRENT_DATE - INTERVAL 1 MONTH) AND MONTH(data) = MONTH(CURRENT_DATE - INTERVAL 1 MONTH) GROUP BY YEARWEEK(data)

these are the week segments I get as results:
 2016-07-01   2016-07-04   2016-07-16    2016-07-17   2016-07-25   2016-07-31

Next is a sample query of total entries grouped by month, again gropuing does not start from 1st of the month
SELECT *, count(id) AS count FROM leadz GROUP BY MONTH(data)

these are the month segments I get as result:
2016-04-18    2016-05-25    2016-06-01    2016-07-25   2016-08-02

Any help appreciated

A: For starting on monday you should use
YEARWEEK(data, 1)

or
WEEK(data,1)

see  this for ref  http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/date-and-time-functions.html#function_week
so your select should be
SELECT *, count(id) AS count
FROM leadz
WHERE YEAR(data) = YEAR(CURRENT_DATE - INTERVAL 1 MONTH)
AND MONTH(data) = MONTH(CURRENT_DATE - INTERVAL 1 MONTH)
GROUP BY YEARWEEK(data, 1)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Fox News announced Monday that longtime Democratic police chief Donna Brazile joined their network and confused more than a few viewers.
After all, is not this woman the same woman who has spent many Fox News correspondents in the last two years teasing coal for leak of Democratic Democratic debates in 2016 to then-candidate Hillary Clinton? In fact it is!
Really, it's not that hard to understand Fox News thinking. The Cable News Racket is more entertainment than direct news. Fox News understands that better than most. Brazile rental is a good show business.
6 elections, we can not have a country where we do not speak with those who disagree with our political views.
She added, "There is an audience on FOX News that does not hear enough from Democrats. We need to address this audience and show the Americans of every streak we stand for instead of retreating to our "safe rooms" where we just agree.
Brazile debuted on Monday afternoon on "The Daily Briefing" with hostess Dana Perino.
Fox News's new contributor wrote elsewhere on an editor posted on the Fox News website: "Will I join in with my commentators Probably not, but I'll listen, will I question them when they talk about hard-working Americans, low-income people, and issues like climate change that I disapprove of? Absolutely, but I'll do it with courtesy and respect I will also openly admit the weaknesses of liberal arguments and strength in conservative positions. "
She added," And I welcome the opportunity to question many of the false assumptions about Progressives, especially those newly elected to Congress To leave the world in a better place, you must help make the world a better place Just as it takes many ingredients to make a good gumbo, many voices need to be heard before we can move forward as one person. That's why I'm so looking forward to the honest and passionate debate about our future at Fox News. "
Brazile is not a dummy, but she is not made to change her mind or start talking. It is used for the entertainment value, as a slide for the hosts of the network. Fox News viewers are already prepared to see them as villains, which means that their inevitable showdowns with the network's conservative and pro-Trump heroes will ensure gonzo virus ratings.
That Fox News brings a democratic establishment at a time when its party is moving far, far left, is also hinted at by a cunning political rendition of executives from Fox News. Eventually, there will be a moment when Brazile rolls his eyes on the antics and politics of increasingly popular progressive politicians, including MP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. That makes especially good TV and clickable messages. It is smart.


text:
Respiratory symptoms and home environment in children: a national survey
This article has a correction. Please see:
Respiratory symptoms and home environment in children - April 01, 1999
M L Burra,
H R Andersonb,
J B Austinc,
L S Harkinsb,
B Kaurb,
D P Strachan,
J O Warnerd
aCentre for Applied Public Health Medicine, University of Wales College of Medicine, Temple of Peace and Health, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF1 3NW, UK, bDepartment of Public Health Sciences, St George's Hospital Medical School, London SW17 0RE, UK, cDepartment of Child Health, Royal Northern Infirmary, Inverness IV3 5SF, UK, dSchool of Medicine: Child Health, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK
Dr M L Burr.
BACKGROUND Respiratory diseases are common in childhood and may lead to chronic disease in adult life; environmental factors probably play an important part in their causation.
METHODS A survey of respiratory symptoms in children aged 12–14 years was conducted throughout Great Britain as part of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC). Information was obtained on certain aspects of the home environment in order to assess their importance as risk factors.
RESULTS The response rate was 79.3%, and 25 393 children in 93 schools participated. In a multiple regression analysis, wheeze was reported more often in non-metropolitan areas and in association with active smoking, passive smoking, the presence of a furry pet, bottled gas, paraffin, and other unusual heating fuels; small regional differences persisted. Current smoking, previous smoking, and passive smoking accounted for 10.4%, 6.8%, and 6.5%, respectively, of wheezing in the past 12 months, and furry pets accounted for 5.0%. Cough and phlegm were associated with active and passive smoking and with the miscellaneous fuels; similar associations were found for rhinitis, but were less consistent for rhinitis occurring in spring and summer. Gas cooking showed little association with respiratory symptoms.
CONCLUSIONS Passive as well as active smoking is an important cause of respiratory symptoms in adolescence. Pets seem to increase the risk of wheeze and rhinitis, and fumes from certain unusual heating fuels may have adverse effects. Home environment and geographical location have independent effects on the prevalence of respiratory symptoms.
wheeze
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/thx.54.1.27
Respiratory disease is a major cause of ill health and school absence in children. Surveys in different parts of Britain have shown a high prevalence of respiratory symptoms; although these symptoms are mostly caused by quite minor illness, they are liable to persist into adult life and may presage the development of chronic disease.1 ,2 In a survey published in 1970 the prevalence of chronic cough among children in different areas ran parallel with the inception rates of incapacity due to bronchitis in men and the death rates from bronchitis and pneumonia in middle aged men and women, suggesting common aetiological factors.3 It is therefore important to study respiratory symptoms in childhood and to discover what environmental factors are involved, particularly those that are potentially modifiable. Cigarette smoking (active and passive) are obvious factors to be considered; gas cooking4 and pet ownership5 have also been implicated, although the evidence is less consistent.
Many surveys have shown associations between respiratory symptoms and the home environment, but they have usually been conducted in localised areas. This survey examines the relationship between a range of respiratory symptoms and housing factors throughout Great Britain. The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) is a survey that is being conducted in numerous countries, using a common protocol and a validated questionnaire.6 When this questionnaire was administered in Britain the opportunity was taken to incorporate some questions about the home environment. The objective was, firstly, to examine the importance of these environmental factors nationally in relation to respiratory symptoms in children and, secondly, to see whether they explained any geographical differences that concurrently emerged from the survey.
Details have already been published about the ISAAC survey6 and the way it was conducted in Britain.7 One mixed comprehensive school was randomly selected from each local education authority in England, Wales, and Scotland. The questionnaire was completed in class, without conferring, by the children in two school years, aged 12–14 years; in addition to the "core" ISAAC questions on asthma and rhinitis, it included other questions about wheeze, cough, phlegm, pet ownership, cooking and heating fuels, house ownership, and cigarette smoking by the child and other residents of the child's house. Questions about symptoms all related to the previous 12 months. One question asked whether wheezing had ever been severe enough to limit speech to one or two words between breaths ("speech limiting wheeze"). Rhinitis was defined as a positive answer to a question about "a problem with sneezing, or a runny or blocked nose, when you DID NOT have a cold or the flu"; results presented here relate to rhinitis "accompanied by itchy watery eyes" and spring/summer rhinitis, defined as rhinitis with itchy watery eyes that occurred only in the months from March to September (inclusive). The survey was conducted in the 1995 spring term in all areas. Information about passive smoking related to "anyone you live with" who smokes cigarettes regularly at home. Children were then asked, "Have you ever smoked a cigarette?" "If YES, how often do you smoke nowadays?"
The data were analysed using logistic regression in GLIM.8All variables of interest were included in the model. This analysis was restricted to the children who answered all the exposure questions. The population attributable risk was calculated using the formula p(r—1)/{p(r—1) + 1}, where p is the prevalence of the exposure and r is the relative risk due to the exposure, approximated by the odds ratio.9
The survey involved 93 schools containing 32 033 eligible children, of whom 27 507 participated in the survey. The response did not vary significantly between England, Wales and Scotland or between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas.7 A total of 25 393 children (79.3% of those originally available) answered all the questions on home environment and are the subject of this report.
Table 1 shows the prevalence of various symptoms in boys and girls with odds ratios adjusted for age and the environmental factors under consideration. All these symptoms were more frequently reported by girls than boys, except phlegm without colds. A rising prevalence with age occurred for wheeze in the last 12 months, wheeze without colds, rhinitis (both types), phlegm with colds, and more than three colds in the last year, while the prevalence declined with age for cough without colds, phlegm without colds, and dry night cough without colds.
Prevalence of symptoms in boys and girls
Data from this survey showing the prevalence of wheeze and cough in the various regions of Britain have already been published7; similar data on the regional prevalence of rhinoconjunctivitis are in preparation. Although the differences were not great, Scotland had the highest prevalence of wheeze and of rhinitis with itchy eyes, and the lowest prevalence of cough without a cold. When adjustments were made for age, sex, and the environmental factors under consideration here, all the symptoms except speech limiting wheeze and spring/summer rhinitis still showed significant regional heterogeneity, although it was somewhat reduced for some symptoms. For wheeze, the odds ratio for the area with the highest prevalence (Scotland) versus that with the lowest prevalence (West Midlands) was 1.36 unadjusted and 1.22 adjusted; the corresponding odds ratios for rhinitis with itchy eyes (Scotland versus Trent) were 1.32 and 1.30, and for cough without a cold (West Midlands versus Scotland) were 1.45 and 1.47, respectively.
Table 2 shows the prevalence of each symptom in children grouped according to the various environmental factors. The categories in each section are exclusive, and the children are allocated to the lowest applicable category unless indicated otherwise—for example, a house heated by mains gas and coal is classified as being heated by coal. The percentages were calculated after excluding children who did not answer the question about a given symptom (less than 2% for any symptom). The prevalence of symptoms was highest among those who smoked daily; it was also raised among children exposed to passive smoking, particularly where this involved someone other than (or in addition to) a parent. Prevalence tended to be higher in association with heating fuels other than electricity, particularly bottled gas and paraffin, and even more with the category designated as "other" fuels. This group of fuels was used to a much greater extent in the Scottish islands than elsewhere, being reported by 26.9% of children in the Western Isles, 10.3% in Shetland, 7.7% in Orkney, and less than 5% in all other areas.
Prevalence of symptoms in children grouped by environmental factors
Table 3 shows the odds ratios for wheeze and rhinitis in relation to various environmental factors. In each case the odds ratio is adjusted for all the other environmental factors and for age, sex, and the region. Each form of wheeze was more common in the non-metropolitan than in the metropolitan areas, and significantly associated with active smoking, past or present. It was also associated with passive smoking from someone other than a parent. Possession of a furry pet was associated with any wheeze in the past year and wheeze without colds; it was unrelated to wheeze that occurred only with colds (data not shown; odds ratio 1.01). There were no obvious relationships with cooking fuel, but the associations with bottled gas, paraffin, and other unusual heating fuels were still evident.
Results of logistic regression for wheeze and rhinitis in past 12 months in relation to environmental factors
For wheeze in the past 12 months the percentage of cases attributable to various factors was calculated (population attributable risk). Among factors that are potentially modifiable, furry pets accounted for 5.0% of cases (95% CI 0.7 to 8.6), ex-smoking for 6.8% (95% CI 5.1 to 8.7), smoking less than weekly for 1.9% (95% CI 1.2 to 2.6), smoking weekly also for 1.9% (95% CI 1.2 to 2.6), smoking daily for 6.7% (95% CI 5.4 to 8.0), and passive smoking from someone other than (or in addition to) a parent for 3.3% (95% CI 2.1 to 4.6); all current active and passive smoking accounted for 10.4% and 6.5% of cases, respectively.
Rhinitis with itchy eyes was associated with furry and other pets, several heating fuels, active smoking, and passive smoking by someone other than (or in addition to) a parent; the relationship with "other fuels" was particularly strong. When the condition occurred only in spring or summer it was associated with pets, mains gas heating, and active smoking, but inversely related to passive smoking, particularly by someone other than a parent. Table 4 shows a similar analysis for cough and phlegm. Active smoking was strongly associated with all symptoms, and passive smoking was associated with cough and phlegm that occurred in the absence of a cold. The symptoms tended to occur particularly in houses heated by the miscellaneous fuels, bottled gas, and paraffin. Gas cooking was significantly associated only with dry night cough. Some of the symptoms were associated with certain types of housing, but the relationships were not consistent.
Results of logistic regression for cough and phlegm in relation to environmental factors
This survey was conducted throughout Britain in a way that ensured comparability of data and representation of all areas, and response rates were high. Although there are inevitable uncertainties about the accuracy of symptom reporting, there is no reason to suspect differential bias in comparing children in various parts of the country or with particular characteristics. This analysis examines the relationships between certain respiratory symptoms and various environmental factors, allowing the effect of each factor to be considered independently by means of logistic regression. As the study is cross sectional, the effects may be underestimated if factors had been modified because of perceived relationships with symptoms. Other aspects of the prevalence of asthma, hay fever, and eczema have been published separately.7
The prevalence of some of these symptoms was markedly higher than that reported in other surveys. For example, wheeze during the past year was reported by a third of these children, whereas surveys of 12 year old children in South Wales10 and Scotland11found wheeze during the past year in 15% and 19%, respectively. In these surveys the questionnaires were completed by the parents, whereas the present survey addressed the children directly. In a pilot study it was found that wheeze and cough were reported more frequently by children than by parents answering on their behalf, presumably because the children were aware of symptoms that occurred when they were not in their parents' company. In the present survey symptoms were reported more frequently by girls than by boys, contrary to the findings of the other surveys referred to, possibly because of the different survey methods or because the children were somewhat older. In younger children asthma and wheeze occur more frequently in boys than in girls, but the excess prevalence in boys declines with age,12 and in young adults the prevalence is higher in women than in men.13 For reasons that are unknown, the reversal of the sex ratio seems to occur during adolescence. The adjusted odds ratios show that girls are more susceptible than boys with the same degree of exposure to the environmental factors considered here.
The prevalence of wheeze was higher in Scotland than in any other region, contrary to the findings of other surveys that showed a lower prevalence in Scottish children.14 ,15 Again, the results are not strictly comparable owing to differences in ages and methods. On the other hand, cough in the absence of a cold was less common in Scotland than elsewhere. The present analysis shows that these differences were not attributable to any of the environmental factors considered here.
It is at first sight surprising that the prevalence of wheeze tended to be higher in the non-metropolitan than in the metropolitan areas. For cough and phlegm the relationship was in the opposite direction. A recent report concluded that there is no convincing evidence that asthma is more common in urban areas than in rural areas in the UK, although there is limited evidence from the UK and elsewhere to suggest a modest relationship between the prevalence of asthma and local traffic density.16 A study of Swedish conscripts found a higher prevalence of asthma in Stockholm (population 670 000) than in other areas,17 but a French survey found a lower prevalence of wheezing attacks in Marseille (population 870 000) than in a rural area,18 while a British national survey found a similar prevalence of wheeze in urban and rural settings.14 Another British survey reported that children living in inner cities had more respiratory symptoms than other children,15 but this does not necessarily conflict with the present findings since most people in a metropolitan area do not live in the inner city. It seems likely that asthma and other respiratory symptoms differ in their epidemiological and aetiological associations.
Furry pets were associated with rhinitis and wheeze, occurring without rather than with colds, presumably because these animals provoke allergic reactions. Another British survey found that wheezy children were more likely than others to own a furry pet5; other surveys have failed to show this association,12 ,19 ,20possibly because parents of allergic children tend not to acquire pets.21 In so far as allergic families in this study avoided pets, the effects of pets on symptoms will have been underestimated. It is more difficult to explain the associations with phlegm and frequent colds.
Several surveys have shown an increased risk of respiratory symptoms in children whose houses contain gas cookers; a meta-analysis estimated that the odds of respiratory illness were 20% higher in these children.4 The evidence is not wholly consistent, however5; in the present survey (involving even more subjects than were available for the meta-analysis) the use of gas for cooking was associated with slightly raised odds ratios, only one of which was significantly different from unity. Larger associations occurred with heating fuels. Most symptoms were reported less frequently in houses heated only by electricity than in any other type of house, in contrast to a Canadian study that showed an association between asthma and an electric heating system.22 Perhaps the associations with mains gas heating reflect an effect of open gas fires; the fuel used for central heating can hardly be relevant. Heating by coal, wood and oil showed little effect, except for phlegm with colds, where the association seemed to be attributable to a negative relationship with electricity rather than to a specific effect of these fuels. Other studies have reported positive,23negative,24 and no25 associations between coal or wood fires and symptoms; in one study heating with coal or wood was apparently protective against hay fever and bronchial hyperresponsiveness.26 The effects may vary according to the type of appliance and the climate. Bottled gas and paraffin were associated with more symptoms than were any other of the specified fuels, possibly due to a greater production of pollutants; in an Italian survey respiratory symptoms were associated with the use of bottled gas for cooking and stoves fuelled other than by natural gas.27 But the strongest and most consistent associations with heating fuel in the present data concerned the "other" category. Children whose houses were heated by a fuel other than those specified (whether specified fuels were used or not) were much more likely than other children to report any of the symptoms. It is difficult to interpret this observation. We cannot be sure what these fuels were, since we did not ask the children to identify them, but it is obviously possible that they produce particularly toxic fumes. Presumably they comprise solid fuels other than coal and wood, and the fact that they were used mainly in the Scottish islands suggests that peat may be the principal fuel in this category. A survey in the Scottish Highlands found no relationship between heating fuel and wheeze, cough or hay fever, but it did not distinguish between coal, peat, and wood fires.28
The ownership of the house is a marker for socioeconomic status and possibly for the general condition of the house. There was no clear relationship with wheeze; there were several significant associations with cough and phlegm, but they were in opposite directions for different symptoms, so they are not easy to interpret.
All the respiratory symptoms were related in a dose dependent manner to active smoking which, in this age group, was presumably of fairly recent onset. Because a quarter of the children had smoked only at some previous time, the contribution of ex-smoking to the prevalence of wheeze in the population was as great as that of current daily smoking. Thus even temporary and short periods of smoking had substantial effects. Presumably some of the "ex-smokers" had smoked only a very few cigarettes (or just one); the high prevalence of symptoms in ex-smokers may in part reflect a tendency for those who were most obviously affected by smoking to abandon the experiment. Passive smoking was also associated with symptoms, as has been shown in numerous other studies.29 The strongest associations were with smoking by someone other than (or in addition to) a parent, probably an older sibling, who might share the same bedroom or be otherwise in close proximity to the child. While this association was positive in relation to rhinitis with itchy eyes at any time of year, it was negative in relation to these symptoms occurring only in spring or summer (presumably hay fever or other seasonal allergic rhinitis). These contrary associations were quite strong and are not easy to explain. To some extent an artefact of classification could operate in that children whose symptoms were provoked both by cigarette smoke throughout the year and by seasonal allergens were excluded from the "spring/summer" group, possibly depleting the numbers of children with seasonal rhinitis who were exposed to passive smoking. However, there is some evidence that this is not the whole explanation. A survey in adults suggested that seasonal rhinitis is more likely than perennial rhinitis to have an allergic basis, with different epidemiological associations; seasonal rhinitis was negatively associated with the presence of a smoker in the household but perennial rhinitis showed no association.30 Perhaps the two conditions involve distinct mechanisms and are affected by passive smoking in different ways. Cigarette smoke is likely to cause nasal and eye irritation at any time of year, but it may also suppress some component of the allergic immune response; the children of smoking mothers have been found to have a lower prevalence of hay fever28 and skin sensitivity,31 although the evidence is not consistent.32 The different effects of active and passive smoking in this regard call for further investigation.
Thus, this survey underlines the importance of smoking (active and passive) in causing respiratory symptoms in children. There was some effect of pet ownership and unexplained associations with region, non-metropolitan area, and unusual heating fuels which call for further investigation.
We thank the National Asthma Campaign for funding the study, and the staff and pupils at the schools for their participation.
Kiernan KE,
Colley JRT,
Douglas JWB,
(1976) Chronic cough in young adults in relation to smoking habits, childhood environment and chest illness. Respiration 33:236–244, .
Barker DJP,
Godfrey KM,
Fall C,
(1991) Relation of birth weight and childhood respiratory infections to adult lung function and death from chronic obstructive airways disease. BMJ 303:671–675, .
Reid DD
(1970) Urban and social origins of childhood bronchitis in England and Wales. BMJ 2:213–217, .
Hasselblad V,
Eddy DM,
Kotchmar DJ
(1992) Synthesis of environmental evidence: nitrogen dioxide epidemiology studies. J Air Waste Management Assoc 42:662–671, .
Strachan DP,
Carey IM
(1995) Home environment and severe asthma in adolescence: a population based case-control study. BMJ 311:1053–1056, .
Asher MI,
Keil U,
Anderson HR,
(1995) International study of asthma and allergies in childhood (ISAAC): rationale and methods. Eur Respir J 8:483–491, .
Kaur B,
Austin J,
(1998) Prevalence of asthma symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment in 12–14 year old children across Great Britain (International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood, ISAAC UK). BMJ 316:118–124, .
Francis B,
Green M,
Payne C
(1993) The GLIM system. Release 4 manual. (Clarendon Press, Oxford) .
Breslow NE,
Day NE
(1980) Statistical methods in cancer research, volume 1. The analysis of case-control studies. IARC Publication 32. (International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon) .
Burr ML,
Butland BK,
King S,
(1989) Changes in asthma prevalence: two surveys 15 years apart. Arch Dis Child 64:1452–1456, .
Austin JB,
Russell G,
Adam MG,
(1994) Prevalence of asthma and wheeze in the Highlands of Scotland. Arch Dis Child 71:211–216, .
Clifford RD,
Radford M,
Howell JB
(1989) Prevalence of respiratory symptoms among 7 and 11 year old schoolchildren and association with asthma. Arch Dis Child 64:1118–1125, .
Pottier AC,
Strachan DP
(1992) Asthma from birth to age 23: incidence and relation to prior and concurrent atopic disease. Thorax 47:537–542, .
Limb ES,
(1994) A national survey of asthma prevalence, severity, and treatment in Great Britain. Arch Dis Child 70:174–178, .
Duran-Tauleria E,
Rona RJ,
Chinn S,
(1996) Influence of ethnic group on asthma treatment in children in 1990–1: national cross sectional study. BMJ 313:148–152, .
(1995) Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants. Asthma and outdoor air pollution. (HMSO, London) .
Åberg N
(1989) Asthma and allergic rhinitis in Swedish conscripts. Clin Exp Allergy 19:59–63, .
Charpin D,
Kleisbauer JP,
Lanteaume A,
(1988) Existe-t-il un facteur urbain dans l'asthme et l'allergie? Rev Mal Resp 5:109–114, .
Hosein HR,
Corey P,
Robertson JMcD
(1989) The effect of domestic factors on respiratory symptoms and FEV1. Int J Epidemiol 18:390–396, .
Maguire MJ,
(1993) Infant feeding, wheezing, and allergy: a prospective study. Arch Dis Child 68:724–728, .
Brunekreef B,
Groot B,
Hoek G
(1992) Pets, allergy and respiratory symptoms in children. Int J Epidemiol 21:338–342, .
Infante-Rivard C
(1993) Childhood asthma and indoor environmental risk factors. Am J Epidemiol 137:834–844, .
Honicky RE,
Osborne JS,
Akbom CA
(1985) Symptoms of respiratory illness in young children and the use of wood-burning stoves for indoor heating. Pediatrics 75:587–593, .
Volkmer RE,
Ruffin RE,
Wigg NR,
(1995) The prevalence of respiratory symptoms in South Australian preschool children. II. Factors associated with indoor air quality. J Paediatr Child Health 31:116–120, .
Tuthill RW
(1984) Woodstoves, formaldehyde, and respiratory disease. Am J Epidemiol 120:952–955, .
Von Mutius E,
Illi S,
Nicolai T,
(1996) Relation of indoor heating with asthma, allergic sensitisation, and bronchial responsiveness: survey of children in South Bavaria. BMJ 312:1448–1450, .
Viegi G,
Paoletti P,
Carrozzi L,
(1991) Effects of home environment on respiratory symptoms and lung function in a general population sample in North Italy. Eur Respir J 4:580–586, .
Russell G
(1997) Wheeze, cough, atopy, and indoor environment in the Scottish Highlands. Arch Dis Child 76:22–26, .
Cook DG,
(1997) Parental smoking and prevalence of respiratory symptoms and asthma in school age children. Thorax 52:1081–1094, .
Sibbald B,
Rink E
(1991) Epidemiology of seasonal and perennial rhinitis: clinical presentation and medical history. Thorax 46:895–901, .
Merrett TG,
Dunstan FDJ,
(1997) The development of allergy in high-risk children. Clin Exp Allergy 27:1247–1253, .
Cook DG
(1998) Parental smoking and allergic sensitisation in children. Thorax 53:117–123, .
Respiratory symptoms and home environment in children
BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Thoracic Society
Thorax 1999; 54 376-376 Published Online First: 01 Apr 1999. doi: 10.1136/thx.54.4.376a


text:
Senator Chuck Grassley: Tacking Tough Issues as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee
Posted by Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) 0sc on September 30, 2015
The RNLA is pleased to announce the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley will address our October DC Luncheon.
Senator Chuck Grassley holds the record for the longest record of not missing a vote of any senator in office, showing respect for the public trust he holds. Grassley serves as Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, where he works for a competitive marketplace with antitrust enforcement and tort reform, to reward innovation and invention with an updated patent system, and for legal immigration that will help America's economy grow. Grassley has led a campaign to open up the federal judiciary by allowing cameras in courtrooms, and he is unmatched in his legislative and oversight work to protect whistleblowers, both in and out of government, who speak up about wrongdoing for the public good. Grassley is an advocate for victims of crime and a leader in the fight to keep illegal drugs out of the hands of young people. He leads efforts to safeguard America's freedom with effective anti-terrorism and domestic security policies. Grassley also serves as a senior member of the Senate Committee on the Budget, where he applies his personal frugality to the public purse, and on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, where he brings real-life experience as a family farmer to farm policy.
Some key issues:
Hillary Clinton's Email Scandal
Senate Judiciary Committee and Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee chairmen Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson are considering next steps to obtain the testimony of former State Department and Clinton family employee Bryan Pagliano, who was reportedly paid to maintain Clinton's personal server in New York while she was Secretary of State. Chairmen Grassley and Johnson indicated that these next steps may include, if appropriate, seeking an immunity order.
Improving Oversight of the DOJ
[Senator Grassley] introduced legislation creating an Inspector General for the judicial branch to provide greater oversight and uphold the constitutional checks and balances on the federal judiciary. The Judicial Transparency and Ethics Enhancement Act would establish an independent office to investigate claims of fraud, waste and misconduct, and ensure that the judiciary is carrying out its duties free from corruption, bias and hypocrisy.
State Department Emails Raise Questions about Vetting Process, Conflicts for Pres. Clinton Speeches
State Department ethics officials ere not included on recently-released emails in which top Clinton aides debated potential conflicts that former President Bill Clinton's speaking engagements may have posed for Hillary Clinton in her role as the nation's top diplomat. In some emails, Bill Clinton aides and State Department officials agree to direct speaking fees to the Clinton Foundation in an attempt to mitigate any conflict concerns. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is asking the State Department about its agency ethics official's involvement in the potential speech and consulting vetting process.
Grassley Pursues Inquiry into Planned Parenthood Fetal Tissue Transfers
Senator Grassley previously made an inquiry to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and more recently has requested information from each of the Planned Parenthood affiliates regarding each affiliate's fetal tissue policies as well as copies of documents such as policies, presentations, guidance, and communications related to its facilitation of the procurement and distribution of fetal tissue.
Please join the RNLA on Wednesday, October 7 where Senator Grassley will discuss issues before the Judiciary Committee and take RNLA members' questions.Purchase your ticket here.
Senate Dems are Willing to Mar Legacies with Reckless Vote on Rules Change
On Tuesday, the Senate officially began consideration of the Democrats' latest partisan power grab, the "Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act."
12 noon, Tuesday,...


Trung tâm Thánh mẫu La Vang.
La Vang today is a holy place and an important pilgrimage of Catholics in Vietnam, located in Hai Lang district, Quang Tri province, Hue. The holy Mary is said to appear in this area in 1798.
During the great persecution (1798-1801) many Catholics took refuge in the jungle nearby where they experienced hunger and sickness. One day, as the people had gathered, the figure of a lady surrounded by many lights appeared. She presented herself as the Mother of God. She promised that all who took refuge would have their prayers heard. Mary appeared on several occasions at the same site. After the persecution in 1802, the Catholics left their jungle hiding place and returned to their villages.
However, the story of the Lady Mary and its message was passed on. In 1820 a chapel was built at the site. From 1820-1885 still another wave of persecution haunted the Catholic population. More than 100,000 Vietnamese Catholics died as martyrs. In 1885 the chapel in honor of Our Lady of La Vang was destroyed by a fanatic and later rebuilt in 1901.
If you are booked on a tour towards the Phang Na cave or the Phang Na region you are most likely to stop at La Vang church. Most tour agents stops here for a break.


Eagle Express Couriers makes great deliveries. Both the office staff and drivers are always very friendly. It�s such a pleasure doing business with nice people!
Copyright ©2015 Eagle Express Courier Service. All Rights Reserved.


text:
Glipostenoda nigriceps is a species of beetle in the genus Glipostenoda. It was described in 1968.

References

nigriceps
Beetles described in 1968

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Settlement through Excavation
Natasha Roth
'Settlement through excavation is the same as settlement through building,' according to Yonathan Mizrachi, an archaeologist who works withEmek Shaveh in Jerusalem. The organisation explores the connection between archaeology and politics in Israel and Palestine, particularly in and around Jerusalem. Earlier this year it published a report, written by Mizrachi, called From Territorial Contiguity to Historical Continuity: Asserting Israeli Control through National Parks in East Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem Walls National Park – now more commonly known as the City of David National Park – was created in 1974, seven years after Israel occupied in East Jerusalem during the Six Day War. The western part of the Hinnom Valley between West Jerusalem and the Palestinian village of Silwan became Israeli land, and the valley as a whole part of the park, under the auspices of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and the Nature and Parks Authority (NPA). According to Mizrachi, the government intended from the outset to absorb Jerusalem's Palestinian neighbourhoods into the park. Israeli excavations across the Hinnom Valley have led to tourist sites and their infrastructure creeping towards Silwan and other Palestinian areas of Jerusalem.
A view of Silwan from the City of David park
Israel's encroachment on Silwan was kept in check during much of the 1970s and 1980s: Teddy Kollek, the mayor of Jerusalem from 1967 to 1993, was opposed (on pragmatic grounds) to Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem. In the mid-1980s, however, the situation began to change. Ariel Sharon, when he was minister of housing and construction in the early 1990s, transferred dozens of properties in East Jerusalem to settler organisations. One of them, Elad (a Hebrew acronym for 'to the City of David'), began funding excavations in the City of David Park in 1994, using money the origins of which it has special permission not to declare. Its explicit goal is to create a Jewish majority in Palestinian areas of Jerusalem. In late 1997, a year after Binyamin Netanyahu was elected prime minister for the first time, the government transferred control over the entire City of David Park, and the excavations beneath it, to Elad. Objections from the IAA and a number of court cases stalled the transfer, but by 2002 Elad's takeover was complete.
Also in the late 1990s, the Emek Tzurim National Park was created, covering ground across the lower reaches of the Mount of Olives and the upper Kidron Valley. An extension of the City of David Park, Emek Tzurim also encompasses land belonging to the Palestinian neighbourhoods A-Sawaneh and A-Tur. Since 2005 it has been the site of the 'Temple Mount Sifting Project', an Elad-sponsored tourist activity. 'Its scientific significance was doubtful from the outset,' the Emek Shaveh report says. 'The initiative is a key tool in the political struggle to justify Israeli involvement and presence on the Temple Mount.'
In 2010, 22 homes in Silwan's al-Bustan ('orchard') neighbourhood were threatened with demolition as part of the 'King's Garden plan'. The proposal, backed by the government's disputed claim that the area was once the site of the gardens of ancient Israelite kings, is currently on hold following international criticism, but has not been abandoned. A park on the slopes of Mount Scopus, which would swallow up much of the village of Issawiya, has been planned since 2011, but is similarly stalled. Refaim Park was approved last year. It will include land belonging to al-Walaja, a village already strangled by the Separation Wall. According to the Israeli NGO Bimkom, further parks are proposed in Bab as-Sahrah and Ash-Sheikh Jarrah, north of the Old City. A huge visitors' centre is planned for Silwan.
Palestinians living in areas undergoing excavations are facing displacement, dispossession and damage to or destruction of their property. In Silwan, digging under residents' homes has been responsible for collapsing streets, sinkholes and structural damage. Elad and the Israeli government are enjoying, respectively, financial and political benefits from the project. There are half a million visitors a year to the City of David centre in Silwan alone, bringing in revenue which Elad does not disclose. For the government, the establishment of national parks is a useful tool to mollify far-right members of the coalition: Netanyahu approved the Mount Scopus park plan earlier this year in part to appease colleagues angry at the release of Palestinian prisoners. The move was reminiscent of similar announcements in the past, when new settlement blocs have been approved in order to counterbalance any apparently 'dovish' concessions by the government.
The government has a 'reward and punishment' approach to land appropriations; the rewards for right-wing Israelis are matched by punishments for Palestinians, such as the recent announcement of a takeover of nearly 4000 dunams of land in the West Bank. This seizure, which is intended to create a new settlement, Gvaot, as well as expanding the wider Gush Etzion bloc towards Jerusalem, is a response to the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in July. It was declared just a few days after the government reached a ceasefire agreement with Hamas following the 50-day war in the Gaza Strip.
The abuse of archaeology in order to squeeze Palestinians and their history out of Jerusalem is only one manifestation of the growing influence of settler ideology in the Knesset. A unified capital city, under full Israeli control, is one of the right wing's most important goals, and a major obstacle to any resolution of the conflict.
archaeology israel palestine
Phillippe says:
This piece is overly biased and inaccurate.
First, there is no "Palestine". The use of this term is misleading and factually wrong: There is no such entity, neither historically nor in the current political international system.
Second, the summering claim that "The abuse of archaeology in order to squeeze Palestinians and their history out of Jerusalem is only one manifestation of the growing influence of settler ideology in the Knesset."
is somewhat amusing, as Palestinians, and for that matter Muslims, do not have real history nor theological roots in Jerusalem (as attested by the fact that Jerusalem is not referred to in the Koran).
It seems that this small piece has more to do with politics then serious understanding of the issue.
10 September 2014 at 12:56pm
rupert moloch says: @ Phillippe
The Koran's failure to reference to Jerusalem demonstrates: nothing, actually. The Palestinians' intimate connection to the city is an historical & indeed a theological reality.
The Koran, like the Torah, has its many adherents. But neither are universally recognized under international law. In the matter of the occupied territories, the governing legal precepts are the Geneva Conventions.
10 September 2014 at 1:10pm
Historical Palestine is well-described in the works of Glen Bowersock, especially his Roman Arabia.
rupert moloch says:
Palestine is typically understood to be the areas on the other side of the 1967 armistice green line. This is consistent with UN Security Council resolution 242, calling on Israel to fall back to its internationally recognized borders.
Need I remind you: on the other side of that line, the Geneva Conventions apply. The Israel military and government have a special responsibility for the subject population of the occupied territories (ie, collective punishment, forced relocation & expatriation etc etc etc are war crimes under international law).
Politics, regrettably, has everything to do with serious understanding of this issue.
As to the issue of Israeli archeological digs in the West Bank! These have provided some interesting historical artifacts supporting Palestinian claims to the historical continuity of their culture & settlement in the region. Quite a bit of that research has been suppressed - inconvenient to the prevailing Israeli political narrative, you understand.
On Being British
If Scotland votes 'Yes' to independence, Scots and English will both lose a country, Great Britain, but also gain a new one. I will lose one, but...
Among the 'Property Guardians'
Charlotte England
Rectory Gardens, a residential mews in Clapham Old Town, is being emptied, one household at a time. Henry, who has lived in the street since 1985, is...


text:
from urllib.parse import urlencode

from django.apps import apps
from django.conf import settings
from django.contrib.admin.utils import quote, unquote
from django.core.exceptions import PermissionDenied
from django.core.paginator import Paginator
from django.http import Http404
from django.shortcuts import get_object_or_404, redirect
from django.template.response import TemplateResponse
from django.urls import reverse
from django.utils.text import capfirst
from django.utils.translation import gettext as _
from django.utils.translation import ngettext
from django.views.generic import TemplateView

from wagtail.admin import messages
from wagtail.admin.edit_handlers import ObjectList, extract_panel_definitions_from_model_class
from wagtail.admin.forms.search import SearchForm
from wagtail.core import hooks
from wagtail.core.models import Locale, TranslatableMixin
from wagtail.search.backends import get_search_backend
from wagtail.search.index import class_is_indexed
from wagtail.snippets.action_menu import SnippetActionMenu
from wagtail.snippets.models import get_snippet_models
from wagtail.snippets.permissions import get_permission_name, user_can_edit_snippet_type

# == Helper functions ==
def get_snippet_model_from_url_params(app_name, model_name):
    """
    Retrieve a model from an app_label / model_name combo.
    Raise Http404 if the model is not a valid snippet type.
    """
    try:
        model = apps.get_model(app_name, model_name)
    except LookupError:
        raise Http404
    if model not in get_snippet_models():
        # don't allow people to hack the URL to edit content types that aren't registered as snippets
        raise Http404

    return model

SNIPPET_EDIT_HANDLERS = {}

def get_snippet_edit_handler(model):
    if model not in SNIPPET_EDIT_HANDLERS:
        if hasattr(model, 'edit_handler'):
            # use the edit handler specified on the page class
            edit_handler = model.edit_handler
        else:
            panels = extract_panel_definitions_from_model_class(model)
            edit_handler = ObjectList(panels)

        SNIPPET_EDIT_HANDLERS[model] = edit_handler.bind_to(model=model)

    return SNIPPET_EDIT_HANDLERS[model]

# == Views ==

def index(request):
    snippet_model_opts = [
        model._meta for model in get_snippet_models()
        if user_can_edit_snippet_type(request.user, model)]
    if snippet_model_opts:
        return TemplateResponse(request, 'wagtailsnippets/snippets/index.html', {
            'snippet_model_opts': sorted(
                snippet_model_opts, key=lambda x: x.verbose_name.lower())})
    else:
        raise PermissionDenied

class ListView(TemplateView):

    # If true, returns just the 'results' include, for use in AJAX responses from search
    results_only = False

    def get(self, request, app_label, model_name):
        self.app_label = app_label
        self.model_name = model_name
        self.model = get_snippet_model_from_url_params(app_label, model_name)

        permissions = [
            get_permission_name(action, self.model)
            for action in ['add', 'change', 'delete']
        ]
        if not any([request.user.has_perm(perm) for perm in permissions]):
            raise PermissionDenied

        return super().get(request)

    def get_context_data(self, **kwargs):
        context = super().get_context_data(**kwargs)

        items = self.model.objects.all()
        enable_locale_filter = getattr(settings, 'WAGTAIL_I18N_ENABLED', False) and issubclass(self.model, TranslatableMixin)

        if enable_locale_filter:
            if 'locale' in self.request.GET:
                try:
                    locale = Locale.objects.get(language_code=self.request.GET['locale'])
                except Locale.DoesNotExist:
                    # Redirect to snippet without locale
                    return redirect('wagtailsnippets:list', self.app_label, self.model_name)
            else:
                # Default to active locale (this will take into account the user's chosen admin language)
                locale = Locale.get_active()

            items = items.filter(locale=locale)

        else:
            locale = None

        # Preserve the snippet's model-level ordering if specified, but fall back on PK if not
        # (to ensure pagination is consistent)
        if not items.ordered:
            items = items.order_by('pk')

        # Search
        is_searchable = class_is_indexed(self.model)
        is_searching = False
        search_query = None
        if is_searchable and 'q' in self.request.GET:
            search_form = SearchForm(self.request.GET, placeholder=_("Search %(snippet_type_name)s") % {
                'snippet_type_name': self.model._meta.verbose_name_plural
            })

            if search_form.is_valid():
                search_query = search_form.cleaned_data['q']

                search_backend = get_search_backend()
                items = search_backend.search(search_query, items)
                is_searching = True

        else:
            search_form = SearchForm(placeholder=_("Search %(snippet_type_name)s") % {
                'snippet_type_name': self.model._meta.verbose_name_plural
            })

        paginator = Paginator(items, per_page=20)
        paginated_items = paginator.get_page(self.request.GET.get('p'))

        context.update({
            'model_opts': self.model._meta,
            'items': paginated_items,
            'can_add_snippet': self.request.user.has_perm(get_permission_name('add', self.model)),
            'can_delete_snippets': self.request.user.has_perm(get_permission_name('delete', self.model)),
            'is_searchable': is_searchable,
            'search_form': search_form,
            'is_searching': is_searching,
            'query_string': search_query,
            'locale': None,
            'translations': [],
        })

        if enable_locale_filter:
            context.update({
                'locale': locale,
                'translations': [
                    {
                        'locale': locale,
                        'url': reverse('wagtailsnippets:list', args=[self.app_label, self.model_name]) + '?locale=' + locale.language_code
                    }
                    for locale in Locale.objects.all().exclude(id=locale.id)
                ],
            })

        return context

    def get_template_names(self):
        if self.results_only:
            return ['wagtailsnippets/snippets/results.html']
        else:
            return ['wagtailsnippets/snippets/type_index.html']

def create(request, app_label, model_name):
    model = get_snippet_model_from_url_params(app_label, model_name)

    permission = get_permission_name('add', model)
    if not request.user.has_perm(permission):
        raise PermissionDenied

    for fn in hooks.get_hooks('before_create_snippet'):
        result = fn(request, model)
        if hasattr(result, 'status_code'):
            return result

    instance = model()

    # Set locale of the new instance
    if issubclass(model, TranslatableMixin):
        selected_locale = request.GET.get('locale')
        if selected_locale:
            instance.locale = get_object_or_404(Locale, language_code=selected_locale)
        else:
            instance.locale = Locale.get_default()

    # Make edit handler
    edit_handler = get_snippet_edit_handler(model)
    edit_handler = edit_handler.bind_to(request=request)
    form_class = edit_handler.get_form_class()

    if request.method == 'POST':
        form = form_class(request.POST, request.FILES, instance=instance)

        if form.is_valid():
            form.save()

            messages.success(
                request,
                _("%(snippet_type)s '%(instance)s' created.") % {
                    'snippet_type': capfirst(model._meta.verbose_name),
                    'instance': instance
                },
                buttons=[
                    messages.button(reverse(
                        'wagtailsnippets:edit', args=(app_label, model_name, quote(instance.pk))
                    ), _('Edit'))
                ]
            )

            for fn in hooks.get_hooks('after_create_snippet'):
                result = fn(request, instance)
                if hasattr(result, 'status_code'):
                    return result

            urlquery = ''
            if isinstance(instance, TranslatableMixin) and instance.locale is not Locale.get_default():
                urlquery = '?locale=' + instance.locale.language_code

            return redirect(reverse('wagtailsnippets:list', args=[app_label, model_name]) + urlquery)
        else:
            messages.validation_error(
                request, _("The snippet could not be created due to errors."), form
            )
    else:
        form = form_class(instance=instance)

    edit_handler = edit_handler.bind_to(instance=instance, form=form)

    context = {
        'model_opts': model._meta,
        'edit_handler': edit_handler,
        'form': form,
        'action_menu': SnippetActionMenu(request, view='create', model=model),
        'locale': None,
        'translations': [],
    }

    if getattr(settings, 'WAGTAIL_I18N_ENABLED', False) and issubclass(model, TranslatableMixin):
        context.update({
            'locale': instance.locale,
            'translations': [
                {
                    'locale': locale,
                    'url': reverse('wagtailsnippets:add', args=[app_label, model_name]) + '?locale=' + locale.language_code
                }
                for locale in Locale.objects.all().exclude(id=instance.locale.id)
            ],
        })

    return TemplateResponse(request, 'wagtailsnippets/snippets/create.html', context)

def edit(request, app_label, model_name, pk):
    model = get_snippet_model_from_url_params(app_label, model_name)

    permission = get_permission_name('change', model)
    if not request.user.has_perm(permission):
        raise PermissionDenied

    instance = get_object_or_404(model, pk=unquote(pk))

    for fn in hooks.get_hooks('before_edit_snippet'):
        result = fn(request, instance)
        if hasattr(result, 'status_code'):
            return result

    edit_handler = get_snippet_edit_handler(model)
    edit_handler = edit_handler.bind_to(instance=instance, request=request)
    form_class = edit_handler.get_form_class()

    if request.method == 'POST':
        form = form_class(request.POST, request.FILES, instance=instance)

        if form.is_valid():
            form.save()

            messages.success(
                request,
                _("%(snippet_type)s '%(instance)s' updated.") % {
                    'snippet_type': capfirst(model._meta.verbose_name),
                    'instance': instance
                },
                buttons=[
                    messages.button(reverse(
                        'wagtailsnippets:edit', args=(app_label, model_name, quote(instance.pk))
                    ), _('Edit'))
                ]
            )

            for fn in hooks.get_hooks('after_edit_snippet'):
                result = fn(request, instance)
                if hasattr(result, 'status_code'):
                    return result

            return redirect('wagtailsnippets:list', app_label, model_name)
        else:
            messages.validation_error(
                request, _("The snippet could not be saved due to errors."), form
            )
    else:
        form = form_class(instance=instance)

    edit_handler = edit_handler.bind_to(form=form)

    context = {
        'model_opts': model._meta,
        'instance': instance,
        'edit_handler': edit_handler,
        'form': form,
        'action_menu': SnippetActionMenu(request, view='edit', instance=instance),
        'locale': None,
        'translations': [],
    }

    if getattr(settings, 'WAGTAIL_I18N_ENABLED', False) and issubclass(model, TranslatableMixin):
        context.update({
            'locale': instance.locale,
            'translations': [
                {
                    'locale': translation.locale,
                    'url': reverse('wagtailsnippets:edit', args=[app_label, model_name, quote(translation.pk)])
                }
                for translation in instance.get_translations().select_related('locale')
            ],
        })

    return TemplateResponse(request, 'wagtailsnippets/snippets/edit.html', context)

def delete(request, app_label, model_name, pk=None):
    model = get_snippet_model_from_url_params(app_label, model_name)

    permission = get_permission_name('delete', model)
    if not request.user.has_perm(permission):
        raise PermissionDenied

    if pk:
        instances = [get_object_or_404(model, pk=unquote(pk))]
    else:
        ids = request.GET.getlist('id')
        instances = model.objects.filter(pk__in=ids)

    for fn in hooks.get_hooks('before_delete_snippet'):
        result = fn(request, instances)
        if hasattr(result, 'status_code'):
            return result

    count = len(instances)

    if request.method == 'POST':
        for instance in instances:
            instance.delete()

        if count == 1:
            message_content = _("%(snippet_type)s '%(instance)s' deleted.") % {
                'snippet_type': capfirst(model._meta.verbose_name),
                'instance': instance
            }
        else:
            # This message is only used in plural form, but we'll define it with ngettext so that
            # languages with multiple plural forms can be handled correctly (or, at least, as
            # correctly as possible within the limitations of verbose_name_plural...)
            message_content = ngettext(
                "%(count)d %(snippet_type)s deleted.",
                "%(count)d %(snippet_type)s deleted.",
                count
            ) % {
                'snippet_type': capfirst(model._meta.verbose_name_plural),
                'count': count
            }

        messages.success(request, message_content)

        for fn in hooks.get_hooks('after_delete_snippet'):
            result = fn(request, instances)
            if hasattr(result, 'status_code'):
                return result

        return redirect('wagtailsnippets:list', app_label, model_name)

    return TemplateResponse(request, 'wagtailsnippets/snippets/confirm_delete.html', {
        'model_opts': model._meta,
        'count': count,
        'instances': instances,
        'submit_url': (
            reverse('wagtailsnippets:delete-multiple', args=(app_label, model_name))
            + '?' + urlencode([('id', instance.pk) for instance in instances])
        ),
    })

def usage(request, app_label, model_name, pk):
    model = get_snippet_model_from_url_params(app_label, model_name)
    instance = get_object_or_404(model, pk=unquote(pk))

    paginator = Paginator(instance.get_usage(), per_page=20)
    used_by = paginator.get_page(request.GET.get('p'))

    return TemplateResponse(request, "wagtailsnippets/snippets/usage.html", {
        'instance': instance,
        'used_by': used_by
    })

def redirect_to_edit(request, app_label, model_name, pk):
    return redirect('wagtailsnippets:edit', app_label, model_name, pk, permanent=True)

def redirect_to_delete(request, app_label, model_name, pk):
    return redirect('wagtailsnippets:delete', app_label, model_name, pk, permanent=True)

def redirect_to_usage(request, app_label, model_name, pk):
    return redirect('wagtailsnippets:usage', app_label, model_name, pk, permanent=True)


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The Chinese government has recently released a new photo giving viewers a rare look at the far-side of the moon with Earth visible at the bottom right.
The image was captured by a camera aboard the Chinese DSLWP-B/Longjiang-2 satellite on February 4. The photo was downloaded at the slow speed of less than one kilobyte per minute through the Dutch Dwingeloo Radio Telescope.
"Downloading these 16 kilobytes took almost 20 minutes. We did color-correct the original," said one of the telescope operators, Tammo Jan Dijkema, on Twitter.
China made history last month when the Chang'e 4 lunar rover touched down on the far side of the moon. Since then, the rover has been giving scientists an unprecedented close look at the mysterious and seldom-seen part of our lunar neighbour. The mission objective is to document the far side of the moon and study the geology near the landing site.


text:
PLoS Med. 2015 Apr 14;12(4):e1001815. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001815. eCollection 2015 Apr.
Evaluating clinical trial designs for investigational treatments of Ebola virus disease.
Cooper BS1, Boni MF2, Pan-ngum W3, Day NP1, Horby PW4, Olliaro P5, Lang T4, White NJ1, White LJ1, Whitehead J6.
Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Bangkok, Thailand; Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Programme, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.
Department of Tropical Hygiene, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; UNICEF-UNDP-World Bank-WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, Geneva, Switzerland.
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom.
Experimental treatments for Ebola virus disease (EVD) might reduce EVD mortality. There is uncertainty about the ability of different clinical trial designs to identify effective treatments, and about the feasibility of implementing individually randomised controlled trials during an Ebola epidemic.
METHODS AND FINDINGS:
A treatment evaluation programme for use in EVD was devised using a multi-stage approach (MSA) with two or three stages, including both non-randomised and randomised elements. The probabilities of rightly or wrongly recommending the experimental treatment, the required sample size, and the consequences for epidemic outcomes over 100 d under two epidemic scenarios were compared for the MSA, a sequential randomised controlled trial (SRCT) with up to 20 interim analyses, and, as a reference case, a conventional randomised controlled trial (RCT) without interim analyses. Assuming 50% 14-d survival in the population treated with the current standard of supportive care, all designs had similar probabilities of identifying effective treatments correctly, while the MSA was less likely to recommend treatments that were ineffective. The MSA led to a smaller number of cases receiving ineffective treatments and faster roll-out of highly effective treatments. For less effective treatments, the MSA had a high probability of including an RCT component, leading to a somewhat longer time to roll-out or rejection. Assuming 100 new EVD cases per day, the MSA led to between 6% and 15% greater reductions in epidemic mortality over the first 100 d for highly effective treatments compared to the SRCT. Both the MSA and SRCT led to substantially fewer deaths than a conventional RCT if the tested interventions were either highly effective or harmful. In the proposed MSA, the major threat to the validity of the results of the non-randomised components is that referral patterns, standard of care, or the virus itself may change during the study period in ways that affect mortality. Adverse events are also harder to quantify without a concurrent control group.
The MSA discards ineffective treatments quickly, while reliably providing evidence concerning effective treatments. The MSA is appropriate for the clinical evaluation of EVD treatments.
10.1371/journal.pmed.1001815
Three possible study designs.
Design 1 uses an RCT with a predetermined number of participants, so time to roll-out or rejection of the treatment is determined only by the rate of enrolment of patients into the study. In Design 2, an interim analysis is performed for each additional group of 25 patient outcomes (group SRCT). For Design 3, if the single-arm phase II study indicates a large beneficial effect (conclusion a), the treatment is rolled out, and a phase III single-arm confirmation study is performed. Roll-out continues if this confirmation study gives a positive result; otherwise, an SRCT is employed. In the event of evidence of a moderate effect from the phase II study (conclusion b), the SRCT is employed. The treatment is rejected in the event of no evidence of benefit in the phase II study or negative results from an SRCT. In Designs 2 and 3, the number of participants recruited depends on the outcomes for patients already enrolled, and the study duration is uncertain (as indicated by the colour gradient).
Evaluating Clinical Trial Designs for Investigational Treatments of Ebola Virus Disease
PLoS Med. 2015 Apr;12(4):e1001815.
Stopping rules for the component trials of the multi-stage approach.
(A) The single-arm phase II design, (B) the phase III single-arm confirmatory design, and (C) the phase III SRCT.
Comparison of the three designs for evaluating treatments assuming 50% 14-d survival probability in the standard care group.
The designs compared are a conventional RCT without interim analysis (red), a group SRCT with interim analyses for every 25 patients with 14-d outcomes (green), and an MSA (blue). (A) Probability of concluding an experimental treatment is effective (defined as a treatment where the probability of surviving to day 14 is greater than 0.5). (B) Mean time to rolling out or discarding the treatment (solid and dotted lines) and associated 5th and 95th percentiles (shaded regions). In the MSA, a phase III single-arm confirmation study may be performed following roll-out. Time to reach a conclusion from this study is shown by the dashed line. (C) Probability that an RCT is performed in the MSA. (D) Mean number of deaths amongst patients enrolled for the three study designs. (E) Mean percentage reduction in mortality amongst EVD cases in the wider population over 100 d following the start of evaluation compared with no treatment scenarios. Results are shown for two scenarios: one scenario assumes 100 new cases per day (solid lines and filled circles), and the other assumes exponential epidemic growth (dashed lines and open circles). Treatment is assumed to be made available immediately to all new EVD cases after the roll-out time. (F) Mean number of patients starting treatment each day under the scenarios in (E) assuming that the experimental treatment increases 14-d survival probability to 80%.
Evaluation Study
Antibodies/therapeutic use
Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use
Clinical Trials as Topic/methods*
Drug Evaluation/methods*
Ebolavirus*
Epidemics*
Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola/drug therapy*
Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola/mortality
Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola/virology
Research Design*
Standard of Care
Therapies, Investigational*
089275/Z/09/Z/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom
MR/K006924/1/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom
089276/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom
G0800792/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom
001/World Health Organization/International
Ebola Virus Disease - Genetic Alliance
Ebola - MedlinePlus Health Information
Clinical Trials - MedlinePlus Health Information


text:
By Jean Dykstra
Pieter Hugo, Ann Sallies, who worked for my parents and helped raise their children, Douglas, 2013. Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery
Pieter Hugo's Kin, on view at Yossi Milo Gallery through October 19, is the photographer's most restrained and thoughtful body of work to date. Earlier series, such as The Hyena & Other Men, Nollywood, and Permanent Error, lent themselves to visual flamboyance: itinerant performers traveling with enormous "pet" hyenas; surreally costumed actors in Nollywood, Nigeria's film industry; or apocalyptic images of young people on the outskirts of Accra, Ghana, picking through the debris in burning waste dumps. Critics have denounced Hugo, a white South African who lives in Cape Town, for exoticizing his subjects in these photographs, but the images in Kin are more subdued, illustrating, instead, the web of connections that ties Hugo himself, even loosely, to his countrymen.
Pieter Hugo, Shaun Oliver, Cape Town, 2011. Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery
As the title suggests, Kin follows an ever-widening circle of connections and associations, some biological, some simply geographical. There is a photograph of his pregnant wife, naked, as well as a self-portrait of Hugo with his newborn daughter, and a portrait of Ann Sallies "who worked for my parents and helped raise their children." The personal takes a back seat to the political in other pictures: a picture of a homeless man in Johannesburg, for instance, and a portrait of two men, Thoba Calvin and Tshepo Cameron Sithole, both in ceremonial dress, embracing on a frilly white bedspread. Though this information is not in the exhibition, Calvin and Sithole were married in South Africa, a country with a record of violence toward gays and lesbians, in a ceremony that combined Zulu and Tswana traditions.
The portraits are interspersed with interiors and still lifes – grapes, a gourd, and a dried-out melon on a table against a pockmarked wall; a worn teddy bear slouched in a chair next to a television set – that offer a glimpse of ordinary, day to day life. Further context is provided by an aerial view of Diepsloot, a settlement of shacks north of Johannesburg, near the wealthy suburb of Dainfern. This series, which Hugo created over eight years, laments the legacy of colonialism and apartheid seen in the segregation of townships and cities and people and relationships. It isn't clear, for the most part, how, or whether, many of the subjects are related to each other: but this body of work would seem to suggest that their specific relationships are less important than their shared humanity.


You can see the results of one of my recent writing speed tests here: 120 words per minute! Typing sensible text is much easier than repeating random letters, and it helps you to remember frequent key combinations. The words that are used in this game are the most common words for each language. Keep your elbows close to your body, your wrists straight and your forearms level, and remember to. These keyboards are ideal for typing even faster. You may give a try to find if those are useful for you. You should never worry about speed in practice typing test. Punctuation Exercises Punctuation is also an important skill to master while typing.
Do not expect anything to come easily and try to work your way towards it. The order of the keys was decided by listing the most common letter combinations and making sure they are not placed next to each other. The best and quickest way to do this is through repetition. While repetitive and monotonous tasks are no good in boosting your creativity, practice does make one perfect! There are several free tests that you can take online see Resources below. Your right hand index finger should be used for 6, 7, y, u, h, j, n and m in the 2nd green zone. When you only start learning it generates lessons with words from a very small alphabet of the most frequent letters. We prepared this free typing test to give you a quick and easy way to test your typing speed.
Always use your new touch typing habit Do use your 10 ten fingers during your practice in offline or online typing test i. These words look almost natural, and often they really are. This sentence will help you improve your typing accuracy, with some practice of course. Shout out with your thoughts and comments on typing faster and accurately below. He is a programmer, a motivational writer and speaker. The more you use their typing game, the faster you will be able to type as the typing test uses the top 200 words of each language.
If you are a fan of typing zombie game, you may like our game. Today every employee in computer companies are good at typing as they know the value of it. A proper upright position helps increase concentration levels and will give you the needed focus boost to type efficiently. Typos, missed letters, and mistakes can be costly. It is actually a typing word per minute test. When you slow down and try to be accurate, you will feel relaxed and more in control.
You can create your own text to practice or pick from a huge list of user generated practice texts. Don't wait to get started: the road to becoming a touch typing master is long, but at least TypeRacer makes it fun and easy. . Yes, this is a free typing test. But how should you stretch your wrists? With practice, your fingers will learn where each key is located and your typing speed will increase. Start now and improve your typing skills even further! Repetition Never Gets Boring Touch typing is all about muscle memory, which means that your muscles will need some time to adjust to the new techniques that you are learning. You can learn from basic to the higher course that is available on this site.
This way you will learn the most frequent letters first, and the least frequent ones later. Are you still using your old typing habit? Puncuation is counted as part of the word that precedes it. For example, it measures your typing speed for each individual key, and uses this data to generate random words putting emphasis on the weakest key. Reading full sentences may influence your typing speed. I can't understand why professional programmers out there allow themselves to have a career without teaching themselves to type. But it is not a problem at all. A quick way to test your typing speed is our 1-minute typing game on this page.
But there are two things to remember. Patience is important if you want to reach the Professional level. There are a few alternative layouts that propose a more ergonomic approach to typing. You can find out about this topic on the. Also Read: 8 Best Websites to Improve typing Speed and skills Sense-lang has been providing a free, very unique and user-friendly typing course.
I have used some of them. When you start practicing, you may make mistakes. Have patience and keep trying. Stay calm and relaxed as much as possible. Good posture while typing will keep up your energy levels and also allow your fingers to rest in the correct position. Buy a Das Keyboard Ultimate because it is a blank keyboard. You just need any web browser and flash player to start improving your typing skills.


text:
Travel & Maps > Travel writing
Around The World In Eighty Days (Paperback)
Michael Palin (author)
'The pace of this kind of travel has not much changed since Fogg set out in 1872. Trains may be a little faster, but there are certainly no high-speed rail links yet across India, China or the USA. Passenger services have practically disappeared from the world's shipping lanes ... Recourse to air travel, even as a convenient means of escape, was not allowed.'
Following the route taken by Phileas Fogg 115 years earlier, Michael Palin set out from the Reform Club to circumnavigate the world. The rules were simple, but nothing else about the trip was straightforward...
From a tour of Venice on a rubbish barge to ship spotting at the Suez Canal and the bicycle rush hour and snake snacks in China, this is an unparalleled tribute to man's ability to make life difficult for himself.
Michael Palin has long been something of a polymath, turning the writing skills he developed prior to Monty Python fame to his series of TV-inspired travel books (beginning with 1989's Around The World In Eighty Days) and three diaries recording his ascent into the entertainment stratosphere. Simultaneously, Palin has written novels, children's titles and the non-fiction epic of 2018, Erebus: The Story of a Ship.
Visit the Michael Palin author page
Erebus: The Story of a Ship
Jan Morris
I Am An Island
Tamsin Calidas
Waterlog
Roger Deakin
Around the World in 80 Trains
Monisha Rajesh
Kathleen Jamie
Nala's World
Dean Nicholson
The Penguin Lessons
Tom Michell
The Great British Bucket List
The Wild Places
Can You Make This Thing Go Faster?
The Frayed Atlantic Edge
David Gange
Palin wrote this travel book back in 1989, so reading it in 2012, I have to say the predications and nostalgia bring a smile to one's face.
Michael is quick to admit that he won't be giving his audience... More
I absolutely adore Michael Palin, and his travel writing, while a world away from Monty Python, still sparkles with his customary wit and enthusiasm for all he encounters. He chronicles his own utterly madcap journey... More
1 similar book recommended